Carrier sells for a penny

Updated 12:56 PM ET, Wed October 23, 2013

Carrier sells for a penny7 photos

Carrier sells for a penny – The U.S. Navy announced Tuesday that the former aircraft carrier USS Forrestal had been sold for scrap for one penny. The ship will be towed from its berth in Philadelphia to Brownsville, Texas, for dismantling. The Forrestal, named after former Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, was decommissioned in 1993. Here, it is is guided into Coddington Cove in Middletown, Rhode Island, in September 1998.

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Carrier sells for a penny7 photos

Carrier sells for a penny – Displacing 56,000 tons and with a length of 1,039 feet, the USS Forrestal was regarded as the U.S. Navy's first "supercarrier" when it was launched in 1954. Circa 1957, a plane prepares to take off from the Forrestal's flight deck.

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Carrier sells for a penny7 photos

Carrier sells for a penny – A Marine Corps KC-130 plane sits on the flight deck of the USS Forrestal after landing, in November 1963. The event marked the largest and heaviest plane to land on a carrier.

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Carrier sells for a penny7 photos

Carrier sells for a penny – Planes burn aboard the USS Forrestal after a Zuni missile accidentally fired from another aircraft in July 1967. The incident involved then-Lt. Cmdr. John McCain, who ran for his life through the flames, according to Navy accounts. The accident left 134 people dead.

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Carrier sells for a penny7 photos

Carrier sells for a penny – Crew members look through a hole in the deck of the USS Forrestal in search of survivors after the explosion in July 1967.

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Carrier sells for a penny7 photos

Carrier sells for a penny – Then-President Gerald Ford stands aboard the USS Forrestal during the United States Bicentennial Celebration on July 4, 1976.